SEWERAGE AND TYPE OF SEWERS

 Sewer - Sewer is a pipe or conduit carrying sewage or any liquid substance. The purpose of sewer is to
convey storm water and sanitary sewage to waste water treatment plant and discharge it into rivers or
lakes.

Types of Sewerage System

Separate Sewerage System - In this system the sanitary sewage and storm water are carried
separately in two sets of sewers. The sewage is conveyed to waste water treatment plan and the
storm water is discharge into the rivers without treatment.

1. Combined Sewerage System - A combined sewer system is a sewer that accepts storm water,
sanitary water/sewage, then the sewage is treated in sewerage treatment plant. This system is
mainly used in the towns where streets are narrow and rain fall is less than the moderate.

2. Partially Separate Sewerage System - A partially separate system is a combination of a

combined sewerage system and separate sewerage systems. This type of sewerage system helps
decrease the load from a combined sewerage system because only the water is added to
sewage water and after than this system work as separate system.

3.
Types of Sewer According to Material

1. Cement Concrete Sewer - For cement concrete sewer, precast concrete pipes are usually
used. Resistant to heavy loads, corrosion and high pressure. These are very heavy and difficult to
transport.

2. Cast Iron Sewer - These types of sewer are High strength and durability water tight. Cast Iron
sewers can withstand high internal pressure and can bear external load. Cast Iron sewers are
suitable for sewage conveyed under high pressure.

3. Plastic Sewer - Plastic sewers are resistant to corrosion. Such types of sewer are light in
weight, smooth and can be bent easily. But these types of sewer (Plastic sewers) are having high
co-efficient of thermal expansion and cannot be used in very hot areas.

4. Asbestos Cement Sewer - Types of sewer like Asbestos Cement (AC) Sewers are
manufactured from a mixture of cement and asbestos fiber. Asbestos Cement (AC) Sewers are
suitable for carrying domestic sanitary sewage. Asbestos cement sewer is best as vertical pipe
for carrying sullage from upper floors of multistory buildings (in two pipe system of plumbing).

5. Steel Sewer - These types of sewer (steel sewers) are Impervious, light, resistant to high
pressure, flexible, and suitable under pressure.

6. Brick Sewer - Brick sewers are made at site and used for construction large size sewer. Brick
sewers are very useful for construction of storm sewer or combined sewer. Nowadays brick
sewers are replaced by concrete sewer. Brick sewers my get deformed and leakage may take
place. A lot of labour work is required.
 Steps in Laying and testing of sewers

Step # 1. Setting out Sewer Centre Line:

The laying of sewers is generally carried out by starting from the tail end or the outfall end, and
proceeding upwards. From the longitudinal section of the sewer line, the positions of manholes are
located on the ground because it is the general practice to lay sewer line between two manholes at a
time. The sewer centre line is marked on the ground by driving the pegs at an interval of 7 m or 15 m as
per convenience. The sewer centre line should be properly maintained during the construction.

Step # 2. Alignment and Gradient of Sewers:

The sewers should be laid to the correct alignment and gradient by setting the positions and levels of
sewers so as to ensure a smooth gravity flow. This is done with the help of suitable boning rods and
sight rails, and a dumpy level. Modified levels of invert are first obtained by adding a suitable vertical
length to the invert levels mentioned on the longitudinal section. A dumpy level (or other suitable level)
is used in leveling along the invert-line of the sewer.

Step # 3. Excavation of Trenches, Timbering and Dewatering:

The work of excavation is usually carried out in the form of open cut trenches but in certain situations as
indicated later tunneling is also adopted. The excavation is made so as to have trenches of such lengths,
widths and depths which would enable the sewers to be properly constructed.
 The width of the trench to be excavated is chosen on the basis of two considerations:
1. To facilitate laying and joining of pipe lengths
2. To permit thorough ramming of the backfill material around the pipe
 The various methods adopted for dewatering and timbering of trenches are:
1. Direct drainage
2. Drainage by an under-drain
3. Sump-pumping
4. Well-point drainage

Step # 4. Laying and Jointing of Pipe Sewers:

Before laying the pipe sewer it should be ensured that the trench has been excavated up to the level of
the bottom of the bed of concrete or the bed of compacted granular material if such a bed is to be
provided, or up to the invert level of the pipe sewer if no such bed is to be provided.
 Types of pipes that are used in the sewers:
1. Stoneware Pipes
2. Reinforced Cement Concrete (R.C.C.) Pipes
3. Cast Iron Pipes
4. Asbestos Cement Pipes
Step # 5. Testing of Pipe Sewers:
Sewers are normally subjected to the following tests before they are put into service:
(i) Tests for straightness and obstruction
(ii) Water test
(iii) Air test
(iv) Smoke test.

Step # 6. Backfilling of Trenches:

The refilling should proceed around and above the pipes. Soft material screened free from stones or
hard substances should be first used and hand pressed under and around the pipes up to half of their
height. Similar soft material should then be put up to a height of 30 cm above the top of the pipe and
this should be moistened with water and well rammed.

The remainder of the trench may be filled with hard material, in stages, each not exceeding 60 cm. At
each stage the filling should be well rammed, consolidated and completely saturated with water and
then only further filling should be continued.

Separate and Combined Sewerage System

1. Separate sewer consists in the separate collection of municipal wastewaters

(blackwater from toilets, greywater and industrial wastewater) and surface run-off
(rainwater and stormwater). The separate collection prevent the overflow of sewer
systems and treatment stations during rainy periods and the mixing of the relatively
little polluted surface run-off with chemical and microbial pollutants from the municipal
wastewater.
2. A combined sewer is a sewage collection system of pipes and tunnels designed to
simultaneously collect surface runoff and sewage water in a shared system. This type of
gravity sewer design is no longer used in almost every instance worldwide when
constructing new sewer systems. Modern-day sewer designs exclude surface runoff
from sanitary sewers, but many older cities and towns continue to operate previously
constructed combined sewer systems.
Two main categories of wastewater

 Sanitary Wastewater - Wastewater from domestic, commercial, institutional and industrial

sources.

 Storm water Runoff - Wastewater resulting from rainfall running off streets, roofs and other
impervious surfaces.

Flow Components in sewerage system

 Domestic Wastewater - Wastewater discharged from residences and institutional premises. It is

also called Sanitary sewage. Slightly more than 99.9% water by weight and 0.1% contains a wide
variety of dissolved and suspended impurities

 Industrial Wastewater - It is used water from manufacturing or chemical process.

 Commercial Wastewater - Wastewater discharged from offices, shops and restaurants.

 Institutional Wastewater - It is used water from schools and universities.

 Storm sewage or storm water - Is runoff from precipitation that is collected in a system of pipes
or open channels.

 Infiltration/inflow - Groundwater seepage into sewers through faulty joints or cracks formed in
the pipes.

Types of flow in a sewer system

 DRY WEATHER FLOW - It is the summation of domestic, institutional, commercial, industrial

wastewater and ground water infiltration into sewer through joints or cracks.

 WET WEATHER FLOW - It consist of the combination of all components of flow in a sewerage
system. It is generally estimated when the combine sewerage system has adopted.

Estimation of dry weather flow

Q 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 = (Q domestic + Q commercial + Q institutional + Q indus𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 ) x Pcif

Where:

Q domestic is the average dry weather domestic flow,

Q commercial is the average dry weather commercial flow,

Q institutional is the average dry weather institutional flow,

Q indus𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 is the average dry weather industrial flow, and

Pcif is the catchment inflow factor.

Factors affecting the Discharge of Dry Weather Flow

 Rate of Water Supply

 Area Served

 Population Growth

 Infiltration

 Exfiltration

Methods for Estimation of quantity of storm water

1
 Rational formula, Q = (360) C I A

 Empirical formula

Empirical formula for Estimation of quantity of storm water

3
 Dicken’s formula, Q = C 𝑀4
𝑀
 Dredge or Burge’s formula, Q = 19.6 2
𝐿3
2
 Ryve’s formula, Q = C 𝑀3
123𝑀
 Inglis formula, Q=
√𝑀+10.4

Sample Problem

1. Determine designed discharge for a combined system serving population of 50000 with
rate of water supply of 135 LPCD( liters per capita per day). The catchment area is 100
hectares and the average coefficient of runoff is 0.6. the time of concentration for the
design rainfall is 30 min. and the relation between intensity of rainfall and duration is I =
100/(t + 20). Considering 80% of the water supplied will result in wastewater generation.
Considering peak factor of 2.5

Estimation of sewage quantity

𝑚3
The quantity of sanitary sewage = 50000 x 135 x 0.8 = 5400 𝑑𝑎𝑦 = 0.0625 𝑚3 /𝑠

The design discharge for sanitary sewage = 0.0625 x 2.5

= 0.156 𝑚3 /𝑠

Estimation of storm water discharge

Hence, storm water runoff, Q = CIA/360

= 0.6 x 20 x 100/360
 = 3.33 𝑚3 /𝑠𝑒𝑐

= 3.33 + 0.156

Therefore, design discharge for combined sewer = 3.49 𝒎𝟑 /𝒔𝒆𝒄

Why Estimation of wastewater discharge is required ?

- Under Estimation would result in less diameter of sewer causing the overflow
problems.
- Over Estimation of wastewater flow would result in a sewer of large diameter which
would increase the cost of sewerage system.

Variation of sewage flow

• Variation occurs in the flow of sewage over annual average daily flow.

• The quantity of sewage produced depends upon the quantity of water use. Generally; Average
daily flow = (70 – 80) % average water consumption i.e. Average Daily Flow (ADF) of Sewage =
75%

Causes of variation of sewage flow

• Rate of water supply: The quantity of wastewater produced from a community would naturally
depend upon the rate of water supply per capita ‘per day. The quantity of wastewater entering
the sewers would be less than the total quantity of water supplied. This is because of the fact
that water is lost in domestic consumption (i.e. cooking etc.), evaporation, lawn sprinkling, fire
lighting, industrial consumption etc. However, private source of water supply (i.e.water from
domestic wells etc.) and infiltration of sub-soil water in the sewers increase the wastewater flow
rate. This extra water that enters the sewers can be assumed to approximately equal to the
water ‘lost in consumption etc.

• Population growth: The sewerage system is designed for the quantity of wastewater not only of
the present population but also of the population a few year hence.

• Type of area served: The quantity of wastewater produced depends upon whether the area to
be served is residential, commercial. or industrial. The wastewater from the residential area
directly depends upon the rate of water supply. If there is no infiltration of water in the sewers,
and if there are no private sources of supply. The wastewater produced from the residential
area may be assumed to be equal to 70 to 80% of the water supplied through the public supply
system. The amount of waste water produced from the industrial locality depends upon the
types of industries and their corresponding industrial processes. The same is the case with the
commercial undertakings. The sewage flow rates can be determined after careful ‘study of the
various process involved.

• Infiltration of ground water: Ground water or subsoil water may infiltrate into the sewers
through the leaky joints. Ex-filtration is the reverse process which indicates the flow of
wastewater from the sewer into the ground. While due to the infiltration the quantity of flow
through sewer increases, ex-filtration results in decrease in the flow and consequent increase in
the pollution of ground water. Both infiltration as well as ex-filtration are undesirable and take
place due to imperfect joints. However, infiltration is much more import: ant from the point of
sewer design. Also, infiltration unnecessarily increases the load on the treatment works.

1.Infiltration of water into the sewer depends upon the following factors :

(i) Depth of sewer below ground water level

(ii) Size of sewer
(iii) Length of sewer through infiltration prone zone
(iv) Nature and type of soil through which sewer is laid
(v) Type of joints, workmanship etc.
(vi) Sewer material.

Sewer appurtenances

Various accessories on the sewerage system and are necessary for the efficient operation of the
system. They include man holes, lamp holes, street inlets, catch basins, inverted siphons, and so
on.

 Man-holes- are the openings of either circular or rectangular in shape

constructed on the alignment of a sewer line to enable a person to enter the
sewer for inspection, cleaning and flushing. They serve as ventilators for sewers,
by the provisions of perforated man-hole covers. Also they facilitate the laying of
sewer lines in convenient length.
 Lamp holes- are the openings constructed on the straight sewer lines between
two man-holes which are far apart and permit the insertion of a lamp into the
sewer to find out obstructions if any inside the sewers from the next man-hole
 Street inlets- are the openings through which storm water is admitted and
conveyed to the storm sewer or combined sewer. The inlets are located by the
sides of pavement with maximum spacing of 30 m.
 Catch basins -are small settling chambers of diameter 60 - 90 cm and 60 - 75 cm
deep, which are constructed below the street inlets. They interrupt the velocity of
storm water entering through the inlets and allow grit, sand, debris and so on to
settle in the basin, instead of allowing them to enter into the sewers.
 Inverted siphons -These are depressed portions of sewers, which flow full under
pressure more than the atmospheric pressure due to flow line being below the
hydraulic grade line. They are constructed when a sewer crosses a stream or
deep cut or road or railway line. To clean the siphon pipe sluice valve is opened,
thus increasing the head causing flow. Due to increased velocity deposits of
siphon pipe are washed into the sump, from where they are removed.